Roller-seaming machine



3' Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

G. L. WAGAN'DT. ROLLER SBAMING MACHINE.

No. 506,022. Patented 0013. s, 1893.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets- -Sheet 2. 0. L. WAGANDT. ROLLER SBAMING MAGHINE.

Patented Oct. 3, 1893.

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' /3. Jl'fornqy UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES L. WAGANDT, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. I

ROLLER-SEAMING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,022, dated October3, 1893.

Application filed May 11, 1893. Serial No. 473,858. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES LQWAGANDT, a c1t1zen of the United States,residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have inyented certainnew and useful Improvements in Roller-seaming Machines, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of sheet metal vessel headingmachines known as roller seaming, and is especially adapted to'form theseam which unites the bottoms and sides or body of wash-boilers, ovalfoot tubs and other vessels, which are not circular, although it mayalso be used for vessels that are circular. As heretofore made, thebottoms for vessels of this class have been recessed at the outside asshown in Figure 1, to allow them to have position on a die, while theseam is belng formed. In distinction to the above described bottom, Iuse a perfectly plain or flat bottom and form the seam upward and abovethe plane of the bottom, and on the outside of the body, to imitate, thewell known hand seam, and to accomplish this result I place myseam-backing die or chuck on the inside of the vessel instead of on theoutside.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. l, is a section of the recessedbottom and seam as now made. Fig. 2, shows a section of my improvedbottom and seam. Fig. 3, shows a side view of the machine ordinarilyused for forming the seam shown in Fig. 2.1 Fig. 4, is a view of themachine showing also a vessel and bottom therefor in section and inposition to be seamed. Fig. 5, shows a top View of the same with thevessel removed. Fig. 6, shows a section on the line 6-'-6,'of Fig. 5, ofthe devices for centering the bottom blanks with respect to thevessel-body. Fig. 7, is a $16.6 view of the seam finishing rollershowing the square groove. Fig. 8, shows a modified construction of myimproved seaming device.

The letter, A, designates the frame; B, a driving cone graduated fordiflerent speeds, mounted on and near one end of the drivingshatt, B; onthe other end of said driving shaft is fixed a miter-pinion wheel, a,which intermeshes with a gear-wheel, O, rotating 1n a horizontal plane.Above the gear-wheel, 0, connected rigidly" thereto and rotating inhorizontal plane therewith is the cam-platen or chuck, D, for carryingthe vessel body 0' and bottom 0 while the seaming process takes place.The said platen has on its under side a cam groove, 1), which conformsin shape or outline with that of the bottom of the vessel to be seamed.A friction roller, 1), travels provided with a slide-way, d, in whichtravels a slide, F, bearing a stud or pivot post, f, on which the leverwhich bears the seaming rollers is adapted to be pivoted.

In forming the seam theroller, g, an elevation of which is shown in Fig.4, is first used to turn the edges of the sheet metal, and partly formthe seam. The roller, g, shown in detail in Fig. 2, is then applied andfinishes the seam, and compresses the sheet metal edges of which theseam is formed, to make the said sea'm close and tight. An arm, E,corresponding to arm, E, is in like manner thereto, pivoted to the rod,0, but above the said arm, E. The arm E, near its swing ing end, isprovided with a slide-way, d, in which travels a slide, F, bearing studor pivotpostgf', on which the lever, G, bearing seaming rollers, g, g,is-pivoted. -The arms E, E, are bolted rigidly together as shown at, e.Said arms are not designed to be used in connection with each other,though they might be so used.

In the structure shown, when it is desired to form a seam at the topedge of the vessel body instead of at thebottom edge, or in other wordswhen it is desired to form the seam close down to the platen, D, thelever G, bearing the seaming rollers, g, g, is transferred from theslide-way, d, to the slide way,d. Said arm's E,'E', are bolted rigidlytogether as shown at, e, in order that when it is desired to use theupper arm, E, for seaming the necessary movement of said arm may beimparted thereto through the lower swinging arm, E, which as abovedescribed receives its motion from the roller, 1), in connection withthe cam groove, b, in the extension platen,

D. An inner platen or chuck comprises the leaves h, h, mounted one overthe other on top of the cam-platen, D. Said three parts are connectedtogether by loose dovetail connections as shown in Fig. 4. The vessel tobe seamed is placed upon the top leaf, h, under the clamping-plate, I,and a pin, 2', is passed down through the leaves, 72,, 71, into thecam-platen to hold said parts in position when they are rotated.

\Vhen it is desired to remove the seamed vessel from under theclamping-plate, I, the said plate is raised slightly and the pin, 2',withdrawn, when the leaves, 71, h, bearing the seam backing die can bedrawn out to the position shown in broken lines Fig. 3, from whichposition the can may be easily removed. By means of this constructionthe necessity of raising the clamping-plate, I, to a considerable heightwhen removing the can, is avoided.

A frame, K, is secured to the upper leaf, 7t, and the seam backing die,L, is mounted upon the top of this frame. Said die corresponds in shapeto the interior of the vessel to be seamed, but is enough smaller thansaid vessel to permit the same to be placed over it. The height of thedie above the upper leaf h, is such that when the vessel to be seamed isplaced over said die, the top surface of the die will be flush with thebottom edges of said vessel (since the said vessel is put upon the dieupside down) The clamping plate, I, is carried by the vertical rod, J,sliding in bearings, j, in the arm, A, of the main frame, A. Thevertical movement of said rod, J, is controlled by the footlever, M, ina manner to be presently pointed out. Said foot-lever is formed by onearm of a bell-crank lever which is pivoted at m, to the main frame, A.The other arm M, of said bell-crank lever has a forked end, the prongsof which take, one on either side of the longitudinally sliding rod, N,between the stationary collars, 11. Upon one end of said rod is an arm,N, at an angle to the rod, N. Arm, N, is secured at its end to a clutchis, upon the driving shaft, B. Said clutch is adapted to be thrown intoengagement with the loose cone pulley, B, and to make the saiddriveshaft rigid with respect to the rotation of the said cone pulley.

By reference to Fig. 3, of the drawings, it can be seen how the clutch,7c, is thrown into engagement with the loose cone pulley, B, by simplydepressing the foot lever, M. There is a cam, 0, carried by thebellcrank lever, which is adapted to depress the end, 10, of lever, P,and to elevate the end, 19, of said lever, thus raising the connectingrod, Q, and the end, '1', of the lever, B, to which said connecting rodis attached. The elevation of the end, '1", causes the depression ofend, 7", at-

tached to the vertical rod, J, which bears the clamping plate, I. Thusit will be seen that the depression of the foot-lever, M, causes, first,the machinery to start into motion and,

thereto.

second, the clamping plate to descend upon the blank and seam-backingdie L.

The blanks from which the bottoms are formed are stamped out of sheetmetal or otherwise man u factured, and are delivered to the machine inproper size and shape. After the vessel to be seamed has been placedupon the seam-backing die, these blanks are inserted under theclamping-plate and between it and the seam-backing die. 'Heretofore ithas been usual with machines of this class to have the edges of thebottom-blank upturned, so that the blank when presented to the machinepresents the appearance of a shallow pan, the bottom of which is justthe size of the bottom edges of the vessel to be scanned The advantageof this method is that it does away with the necessity of centering thesaid bottom with respect to the vessel to be seamed, on the die. Theobjection to it is that it requires an extra operation to upturn theedges of the bottom blank, which extra operation is expensive. By meansof improveddevices which are employed in connection with theclamping-plate and which shall be presently described, the machine ismade touse fiat blanks, and to center these blanks with respect to thevessel bodyon the seam-backing die, automatically. To this end twoposts, 8, are secured to the top of the clamping-plate and two bars, S,parallel to each other are pivoted at their ends to the said posts. Arod, 5, connects the free ends of said bars. A lever, T, having ahandle, 25, is pivoted on the rod, 3, at its center. The

arm, 25, of said lever hasa fiat end, so that when the handle, 25, isthrown up, the free ends of the pivoted bars will be elevated andsupported on the arm,t, as shown in full lines Fig. 6,-or the handle maybe thrown down as indicated by the broken lines. A centering frame, U,is pivoted on pivots, a, working in slots, to, midway of the bars, S.Said frame has an up and down movement with the bars, S, to which it ispivoted. The upright guide pins, 12, secured at one end to theclamping-plate, I, and passing through perforations in the centeringframe, U, in connection with the slots in the bars, S, (in which thepivot points of the centering-frame slide,) effect a vertical movementof the centering-frame, though the bars, S, which cause the movement ofsaid frame, move in the arc of a circle. 7

Four downwardly projecting centeringpins, to, are disposed around theouter edge of the centering frame, in such manner that the bottom blankwill just fit between them, and when so fitted, said bottom blank willbe in such position, that when the clamping plate, I, bearing thecentering-frame isdepressed vertically till the said bottom blankbeneath the clamping-plate rests upon the seam-backing die with thevessel to be seamed thereon, the said bottom blank will be centered withrespect to said vessel andin position to be seamed thereto. Normally thethe centering frame is also depressed and the centering pins, w, willproject below the lower surface of the clamping-plate as indicated indotted lines Fig. 6.. While the centering points are in.this positionthe bottom blank is inserted by hand under the clamping-plate betweenthesaid pins, w, and held there till the clamping plate is lowered bymeans of the foot-lever, M, to hold the bottom blank in position uponthe seam-backing die. The next step is to elevate the centering-frameand pins so as to be out of the way of th seaming rollers.

The tension of the seaming. rollers on the seam is regulated by means ofthe horizontal tension lever, X, pivoted at, cc,-to the main frame, A.At its inner end it engages a col-.

lar, (13', sliding on shaft, 0. A bell-crank, Y, 1s pivotedto a bracket,g, on the swinging arm, E. The horizontal arm, y, of said lever 1sbifurcated and one branch takes on either side of the said rod, 0, onwhich the swinging arm, E, is pivoted, so that by depressing the handle,m of tension lever, X, the horizontal arm, y, of the bell-crank lever,Y, will be elevated and the vertical arm, y, of said bellcrank leverwill be moved forward. A vertical rock-shaft, Z, turns in bearings inthe swinging ends of the arms, E, E, respectively. Three horizontal arms2;, z, 2 are secured to the rock-shaft. One of these arms 2, presses atits end against the slide, F, in slide-way, d. Another arm, 2 parallelto said arm, 2, but above it, presses against slide, F, in slide-way, d.The third arm, z, is at right angles to the othertwo arms and isconnected by the rod, 0, with the vertical arm, y, of the bell-cranklever, Y, and said rod conveys the forward motion of the vertical arm,y, of bell-crank lever, Y, to arm, 2', on rock-shaft, Z. Said shaft willswing partly around and cause the rigid arm, 2, to press against theslide, F, and arm, z ,.to press against slide, F'. Thus. it can be seenthat by varying the pressure upon the lever, X, the. pressure of theseaming roller upon the seam may be varied.

Fig. 8, of the drawings illustrates a modification of the device as Ihave heretofore described it. The modification relates to the mechanismforoperatingtheclamping-plate,I, and comprises means whereby the saidclamping-plate after the seaming process has been completed, is elevatedto a sufficient height above the bottom of the vessel to permit saidvessel to be lifted up and off the seam-backin g die, thereby avoidingthe necessity of using the extension platen, D.

Referring to Fig. 8, of the drawings it will be seen that the arm, A, ofthe main frame, A, has a vertical extension 1. A pulley, 2, is journaledin bearings in the upper end of said extension and a chain, 3, having aweight,

4, on one end passes over the pulley and is connected-at its other endto the vertical rod,

J. In the present instance the end, r',of lever, R, connects with therod, J, by means of a sliding collar 5. It is detachably secured to saidrod by means of the pawl, 6, which when in engagement with the said rod,J, causes said rod to be governed by the movement of the lever, R. Whensaid pawl is thrown out of engagement with the rod, said rod may movefreely up and down sliding through the'bearings j, and the collar, 5. Asin the other described construction, the clam ping plate is carried bythe rod, J. In the present construction, the weight, 4, will be of suchsize as to balance the combined weight of rod, J, and the clampingplate, I; whereby when the pawl, 6, is in a released condition thevertical movement of the clamping plate may be controlled by the hand.When it is desired to forcibly depress the clamping plate, as whenholding the bottom blank, 0 the said pawl is thrown-into engagement andthe downward pressure may then be applied by means of the foot lever,M." In this construction the arm, E, is done away with, and toperformits functions, an upright piece, 7, is bolted or otherwisesecured to the top of the slide, F, and the lever, Q, bearing theseaming rollers, g, g, is pivoted to the upper end of this upright piecein which position it IIO a, sheet-metal vessel, the combination of a Irevoluble clamping-plate having a limited vertical movement; arevolubleplaten, D,

whose axis is in line with the axis of the clamping plate; and a seambacking die mounted on the said platen and movable laterally thereon toadmit of its being removed from withunder the said clamping plate.

2. In a machine of the class described the combination of theclamping-platevertically movable above a seam backing die, and adepressible frame pivotally secured to posts upon said clamping plate,and adapted to center the bottom blank, as described.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of theclamping-plate vertically movable above aseam backing die; two posts,secured to the top of the clamping'plate; two bars, 8, havinglongitudinal slots, 11/, and each pivoted atone end to one of the posts;a frame, U, on pivots which slide in the said slots, u, in bars, S; anddownwardly projecting centering pins, w, secured to the frame, U,substantially as described.

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination of ahorizontallyrevoluble clamping plate having a limited vertical movement;a revoluble platen below the clamping plate; a seam backing die; andleaves mounted on the said platen and connected together loosely so asto admit of moving on each other laterally from under the clampingplate,said leaves supporting the seam backing die, as set forth.

5. In a machine of the class described the combination of theclamping-plate having a limited vertical movement; and a seam back;- ingdie mounted upon an extension platen;

said platen comprising a series of inter-sliding leaves, as described.

6. In a machine for forming the seams which unite the bottom blank tothe body of a sheet'm'etal vessel, the combination of ahorizontally-revoluble clamping plate having a limited verticalmovement; a revolnble platen, D, whose axis is in line with the axis ofthe clamping plate and is provided with a cam groove; an oval-shapedseam-backing die mounted on the said platen and movable laterallythereon; a lever, G, having seaming rollers to form the seam; and aswinging arm having a roller which travels in the said cam groove andthereby guides the said seaminglever, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES L. VVAGANDT.

Vitnesses:

ALVAN MACAULEY, CHAS. B. MANN, Jr.

